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ABUJA, NIGERIA—Anger is rising over the abduction of more than 200 female students from their high school nearly two weeks ago who still remain missing.

Desperate parents, frustrated by the Nigerian government’s inability to rescue their daughters, are organizing their own search parties, venturing into the lawless northeastern forest in which the captors fled.

But in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and a land accustomed to crime and violence, the April 14 mass abduction at gunpoint has left people in a state of fear and anger.

A relative of one missing girl, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, lashed out at President Goodluck Jonathan, asking how the country’s security could be so lax that insurgents could kidnap the girls in the northeastern town of Chibok and then disappear with them without a trace.

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Danuma Mpur, chair of the local parent-teacher association, told the Guardian Friday that “we pinned our hopes on the government, but all the hope is turning to frustration. The town is under a veil of sorrow.”

Mpur’s two nieces are among the missing students, who are both Muslim and Christian and mainly between the ages of 16 and 18.

The militant Islamic group Boko Haram — which means roughly “Western education is a sin” in the local Hausa language — is suspected in the abduction but has not issued a statement.

Militants stormed the school in Chibok as the girls were taking exams and ordered them aboard an awaiting convoy of trucks. Only a few dozen escaped.

Boko Haram is known to abduct women or girls, some as young as 12, according to a Human Rights Watch report. They are often raped, used as slaves, or trained as rebels.

The group, which strives to impose an Islamic government in northern Nigeria, is opposed to education for girls.

On the same day of the Chibok attack, Boko Haram bombed a bus station in the capital, Abuja, about 965 kilometres to the south, killing more than 70 and injured dozens.

An outcry broke out the next day when Jonathan attended a political rally in Kano and was photographed dancing and smiling, despite the horror of the two attacks. The government later defended his actions, telling reporters that he was making a statement to terrorists, letting them know they could not hobble the country.

This did not soothe angry feelings, and people’s faith in the government’s ability to rescue the girls from a recognized Boko Haram stronghold is waning by the day.

Adetokunbo Mumuni, executive director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), said in an interview in Abuja that he believes outside help is needed. He called on the United Nations to “urgently intervene and security the safe release (of the girls).”

Emergency law, which imposes curfews and military checkpoints, has been enacted in three states, including Borno, where Chibok is located. Jonathan has reportedly warned state governors and senior officials not to make inflammatory statements that would impede rescue efforts.

Although there has been no word of negotiations with the captors, analysts believe this may be the government’s only option. They have typically been striking at the Boko Haram with airstrikes, but that tactic would endanger the hostages.

Nigeria’s population of about 170 million is roughly divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south. The country has incredible wealth: Lagos is home to banking tycoons and renowned designers who created lavish, protected enclaves for the rich and an antidote to the stereotypical view of Nigeria as home to fake princes and credit card scammers.

But many in Nigeria are also incredibly poor, with a life expectancy of 53. The overcrowded, under-resourced and vulnerable schools in the north are but one example.

Boko Haram’s fight — and the government’s reaction — has claimed thousand of lives in the past four years. In recent months, the attacks have increased and, as the Abuja assault shows, they are no longer limited to the north.

“It’s the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. I never thought Boko Haram would come this close,” Abuja resident Paul Patrick said on a bridge overlooking the bus bombing scene.

There is an increased military presence now in the capital, making Abuja’s traffic congestion even worse. Reports are starting to emerge of harassment by military officials.

Matthew H. Kukah, the founder of the Kukah Centre for Faith, Leadership and Public Policy in Abuja, says Boko Haram is thriving on the fear and publicity from these attacks.

“(Boko Haram) wants to increase its own visibility and publicity at the expense of the government, destroying the confidence of the government in its legitimacy,” Kukah told the Star.

The strategy has worked before, as the International Crisis Group (ICG) notes in its April report on Nigeria, which states that due to rampant corruption most Nigerians are poorer than they were before the country gained its independence in 1960.

Nonetheless, the plight of the girls and the television images of the gruesome the bombing during a busy morning commute has citizens united in their horror.

Boko Haram, which began in 2003 as a largely non-violent social movement, has grown to become a large, although poorly organized armed insurgency.

Its members have carried out horrific attacks in recent years, targeting schools and churches. A common tactic is to set fire to buildings and shoot anyone who tries to escape while those who stay inside are burned alive.

Military attempts to crush the movement, however, have also resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and, with ongoing corruption, have helped boost Boko Haram’s popularity.

The ICG report recommends the government seek solutions outside military alone, which “risk pushing yet more restless, jobless frustrated youths into violence and extremism.”

Atta Barkindo reported from Abuja and Michelle Shephard from Toronto. Follow Shephard on Twitter at @shephardm.

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